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Written question asked by Lord Gove (Conservative) on Wednesday, 4 June 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 6 June 2008. It was answered by Lord Knight of Weymouth (Labour) on Wednesday, 11 June 2008 on behalf of the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Education: Assessments

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what evaluation criteria are applied to those organisations tendering for contracts to administer Key Stage tests; and what assessment his Department had of the extent to which Educational Testing Service met these criteria.
Answer

The procurement and award of contracts for national curriculum assessment delivery is the responsibility of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA). They carry out this function independently of Government. I am satisfied that the QCA carried out their responsibilities in relation to the contract for test delivery services with all due diligence. I have asked David Gee, Managing Director of the National Assessment Agency, to write to the hon. Member. A copy of his letter will be placed in the Library.Letter from David Gee, dated 9 June 2008:"I have been asked to write to you in response to your parliamentary question about the evaluation criteria used in assessing tenders for the national curriculum tests delivery contract.""The evaluation criteria were included in the Invitation to Tender (Section 8), an extract of which is below:""Service Delivery""The supplier's ability to deliver the services to time and quality;""The agreed level of quality and security to which the Service will be delivered (including ensuring quality of marking);""The supplier's capabilities and operation of a programme management, governance regime and relationship management approach;""Efficiency, Impact and Value""Assessment of the impact of burden on schools of implementing the identified solution;""The supplier's proposals for innovative delivery of the Service;""The supplier's proposals for delivering efficiency and ongoing cost reduction; and""Costs (suppliers should note that costs submitted will be evaluated on a line-by-line basis in the response to the pricing model).""Risk and Issue Management""Ability to identify, assume and manage risk (including an outline of the steps the supplier will take to mitigate risk), attitude to risk faking, confidence in managing risk and ability to minimise the commercial impact of risk."

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
477 c368-9W; 209821
Session
2007-08
Subjects
Assessments National curriculum tests
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk